When I was a kid growing up in northern New Jersey, there was a video arcade in the center of town that was absolutely the place to have a birthday party: Electric Circuit. There was nothing like hanging out with a bunch of your friends and an unlimited supply of video games and fun. I celebrated at least one birthday there, and I know I went to a few Electric Circuit parties as well. However, as I got older, I spent less time at video arcades and forgot all about the Electric Circuit for a few years, even though it was about a five-minute walk from my high school. That is, until the day that my friend Deana and I thought it would be a better idea to play video games than go to class.

I was sixteen or seventeen, and Deana was a year younger than me. She had never cut school before, and if I remember correctly, I had to twist her arm a little bit to get her to come along. Now, I certainly wouldn’t recommend this course of action to any of our younger readers, but I really freaking hated high school, and was exceptionally good at getting away with just about anything. It had become normal for me at that point to leave school halfway through the day, sometimes just for a couple of hours, and sometimes not to return. I honestly couldn’t tell you how I didn’t end up in detention more than I did, but when you’re sixteen, you don’t really think about the consequences of your actions; at least, I certainly didn’t.

At any rate, I convinced Deana to skip out on school around lunchtime, but since neither of us had cars we couldn’t go very far. Typically, I would go to a nearby diner or bagel shop with my friends, or even to the park if it was a nice enough day, but for some reason this day was different. I don’t know why; maybe I wanted to show Deana a really good time to make her first Ferris Bueller experience worthwhile, but we ended up at the Electric Circuit for the first time in years and figured that was as good a place as any to spend the rest of the school day.

As soon as we entered, we knew we had made the right decision. No one working at the Circuit seemed to care about two high school-age girls showing up in the middle of the school day. It was heaven. The arcade was completely empty; we had the whole thing to ourselves, with no one to tell us what to do! All we needed was enough quarters to keep us entertained. We were only there for a few hours, but that was all we needed: a bit of freedom, some time to leave behind the stresses of high school, parents, and any other issues we had going on. Oh, I’m sure any of the worries I had back then would seem laughable at this point in my life, but everything is a little overdramatic when you’re sixteen.

My favorite thing to do in the whole arcade was play air hockey. It’s been awhile, so I’m probably not so great now, but back in the day I was damn good at air hockey. On a normally crowded weekend day, or after school, there wouldn’t be enough air hockey tables to go around, and the patience it took to wait my turn was a virtue I just didn’t have. However, on that day, the air hockey table was free and clear, meaning that Deana and I could play as many games as we wanted without having to worry about other people waiting in line. That is the part of the day I remember the most. I couldn’t really tell you specifically what arcade games we played, but I remember the exhilaration of feeling the air hockey table start up after dropping a few quarters in the thing.

After we’d had our fill of dated arcade games and air hockey, we were out of quarters and decided to call it a day. We went to the nearby bagel shop and reflected on the fun we’d had; Deana’s first truancy had been a success. We didn’t get caught, and even if we had, it still would have been worth it. As it turned out, that would be the last time we ever went there. I moved out of Jersey when I was 18, and the Electric Circuit closed down at some point in the years following. Of course, we still went on to have lots of adventures, many of them ridiculous, but for some reason that day really stands out in my mind. There aren’t a lot of high school memories that I miss, but thinking about that day definitely makes me nostalgic.

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